When are retro games retro?

[Sasha_Blue]

I had a discussion with a friend of mine and we wondered when retro games become retro? For example, the original Xbox is over 10 years old. Is that retro? I mean it is from the 128-bit era but many don't count it as retro. However, many people and sites count the Dreamcast as retro, that's form the 128-bit era too, why not Xbox? Other people don't even count Dreamcast and say the cut off point for any gaming system to be considered retro is at the end of the SNES. Some other people say it's at the end of the Playstation One. What about anything after that to present not counting current gen of course. I've even heard some people call consoles such as Xbox and PS2, modern retro. That is a new term I heard. What do you think?

[emwearz]

Who cares?

[elmagicochrisg]

Who cares?

[Frerix]

I consider every console released before the previous generation of consoles retro.
So when the PS4 and X1 are released, the PS2/Xbox/NGC will become retro.

But meh, who exactly cares :p

[Retrogamer0001]

Meh, who gives a fig?

But really though, I think of anything two generations ago as "retro".

[BoneSnapDeez]

PS2/Xbox/GC still seem too slick and refined for me to consider retro.

I would consider the Dreamcast retro though.

[isiolia]

Games that predate the current state of their respective genre. The consoles themselves can make for convenient categorization, but really, aren't always going to be. Launch titles tend not to be far removed from later titles on the previous generation, that kind of thing.

If going purely by hardware, then I'd mostly consider it to be anything short of the current generation (though especially if it's no longer available at retail).

[Sasha_Blue]

PS2/Xbox/GC still seem too slick and refined for me to consider retro.

I would consider the Dreamcast retro though.

Why Dreamcast too and not the others? Just wondering since they are both 128-bit.

[Luke]

Retro means "of recent past", so it's lumped in with other overused and misused words like "epic", "hipster", and "literally".

There will never be an actual genre of retro games as they are all retro in months. "Classic" games, however, is something different.

[AppleQueso]

PS2/Xbox/GC still seem too slick and refined for me to consider retro.

I would consider the Dreamcast retro though.

Why Dreamcast too and not the others? Just wondering since they are both 128-bit.

Woah woah woah woah.

"128-bit era" is a misnomer. The Dreamcast's and Xbox's main processor were 32-bit, and the Gamecube's was 64-bit. The Ps2 was the only console with an actual 128-bit processor in it. (I suspect this is probably one of the reasons the Ps2 was considered notorious to develop for)

The whole defining generations by "bits" thing is just a holdover from advertising during the 90s and really doesn't mean very much in practical terms.

Just a small peeve of mine.